German business partners with Shelton State

Andreas Lapp visited Tuscaloosa for the first time about 20 years ago. He liked what he saw and where the city was heading in manufacturing.

By Patrick RupinskiBusiness Editor | The Tuscaloosa News

Andreas Lapp visited Tuscaloosa for the first time about 20 years ago. He liked what he saw and where the city was heading in manufacturing.On Thursday, Lapp, now the chairman of a German company that makes industrial cable and related products, returned here for the dedication of the Lapp Center for Excellence in Cable Technology at Shelton State Community College and what promises to be a long-term relationship.Lapp's company, Lapp Group AG, based in Stuttgart, is donating the high-tech cables and accessories and the curriculum that will be used to help train Shelton State students studying mechatronics, industrial electricity and industrial electronics. Those programs have about 200 to 250 students, said Steve Fair, Shelton State's dean of technical services.Lapp Group's specialized cables are used in robotics and other high-tech machinery in places like Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance.Students in the Shelton State classes will receive the training to work in those industries.They will not be trained for jobs with Lapp Group, whose North American production operations are in New Jersey.But that could someday change.While touring Shelton State after the dedication ceremony, Lapp said he would be in Atlanta today for the dedication of a Lapp Group warehouse and distribution center.“Unfortunately, that warehouse will not be in Tuscaloosa,” he said. Two of his board members pushed for building the facility in Atlanta, he said.“But next time, when we do production (plant), I will prevail, and I am impressed with Alabama as a place to be,” he said.Indirectly, Mercedes-Benz's decision 20 years ago to build its first North American plant in Vance led to Lapp's discovery of Tuscaloosa.Lapp said he was visiting a cousin in Canada and then flew to Florida on a small private plane. At the time, Mercedes, the leading industry in his hometown of Stuttgart, was building its plant here, and Lapp said he wanted to see it. His group came to Tuscaloosa and stayed overnight at a hotel near the University of Alabama, where he said he discovered Tuscaloosa on the Strip. In early 2011, Lapp recalled that visit when he met with Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox and County Probate Judge Hardy McCollum, who were on an industry-hunting trip in Stuttgart.Shortly after that trip, the April 27, 2011, tornado hit and recovery, rather than industrial recruiting, became a priority, Maddox said. When the Tuscaloosa officials later got back to Stuttgart, Lapp sought them out to learn about the tornado and asked how he could help the city. That led to a discussion about training students to work with the cables that move the parts of the robotics used in today's manufacturing and resulted in the Lapp Center.“My feeling is we need excellent education for young people,” Lapp said during the dedication, noting good technical education is a must in modern manufacturing.“Today's industry is not loud and dirty. Today's industry is like working in an office. It is clean,” he said. “We are now in a second, new industrial revolution where machines will be building the machines.”Thursday's dedication is the first phase of an ongoing partnership between Lapp and Shelton State, officials said. Phase 2, which will double the size of the cable technology center, already is in the works. When asked why Lapp Group chose to put the center in Tuscaloosa rather than New Jersey where the company has its North American production facility, Marc Mackin, president of Lapp Holding NA Inc. said: “Tuscaloosa represents the future of manufacturing.“Today, people need a new set of skills in manufacturing,” he said.Alabama's model of working with manufacturers through its technical colleges like Shelton State will create the 21st century work force, he said.